Our View: Disclose all tax delinquency data

Thursday

Jan 2, 2014 at 2:01 AM

Periodically the state Department of Revenue Services will release a list of the top tax delinquents. The annual shaming of those who owe back taxes rarely changes from year to year. However, every now and then a name does disappear.

But that doesn’t mean the back taxes have been paid in full. Nor does it mean some negotiated partial payment was worked out and paid off.

But what it might mean is that the state simply gave up and wrote off the debt as uncollectable. In fact, over the past three years, the department has written off more than $213 million in back taxes as “uncollectable.”

Who are those lucky delinquents who had their debt erased? No one can say.

For that matter, the department is prohibited from identifying those once-delinquent debtors who did right and paid off their overdue tax debts. That information, along with the write-offs and the negotiated settlements, are deemed confidential matters.

It’s a quirk in state law that only recently came to light. The same law that permits the state to issue a list of delinquents also prohibits the state from explaining how someone is removed from the list because of privacy issues that prevents the state from divulging personal taxpayer information.

It’s a quirk in state that also needs to be fixed. Otherwise, how do we know if the debt was erased properly or as a political favor? In this day when confidence in government is at all-time lows, why add to that?

And how is it that we can justify labeling an individual as a dead beat, but not restore his or her reputation when the debt is paid?

This past year we’ve witnessed too many examples where the public’s right to know has been infringed upon through efforts to block the release of public records over concerns of individual privacy. Such efforts only succeed in creating an environment ripe for abuse.

If the state is going to shame people by exposing their debt, it should also be held accountable in explaining how and when that debt is satisfied.